Feeding Families, Caring for Kids

You may not be taking a Zumba® class with your favorite instructor or running on the elliptical this month, but your YMCA is busy serving our community even while our branches are closed for fitness activities.

Some may wonder why the Y is switching gears from fitness to community service? The story is, community service has always been our story at the YMCA. The Y is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community membership organization with a charitable mission. That's why, when you become a member of the YMCA, you are helping deliver on that mission because your dues and donations support the resources (staff, buildings, goods) needed to carry it out to the most vulnerable members of our community.

What did your dues & donations help with this month?

• We are providing weekly backpacks full of food for children from low-income families at our Early Childhood Education Centers. These families qualify for financial assistance with child care expenses while they work or attend school, and their paychecks don't always provide enough food on weekends for the family.
• We are distributing food boxes to low-income families weekly at our YMCA Downtown Early Childhood Education Center with assistance from the Food Bank of North Alabama. Some families will not be able to earn a wage while their jobs are shut down due to COVID-19.
• We are caring for the children of essential workers at our Southeast Family YMCA in Huntsville and at the Hogan Family YMCA in Madison. Hospital employees, first responders, grocery workers and a host of other people who are really needed at their jobs need help with their children and want to be ensured that they are in a safe, healthy environment.
• We are calling seniors! To date, our staff have called more than 1,000 seniors, and the list grows every day. We ask them how they are and have a conversation, because our seniors especially are emotionally vulnerable while isolated at home. We ask if they need help with errands, and our staff members have (safely) picked up and delivered groceries to some of our seniors, providing another welcome social interaction.

We hope that you see our relationship as more than a transactional one of fees for services. We hope rather that you see our relationship as transformational to your community, and guess what? When you do something good, it feels good, too.

Thanks for being a member and supporter of the YMCA! You are making a difference in this difficult and challenging time.

Do you want to do more? Reach out to your local branch or jessica.luther@ymcahuntsville.org to learn more.